


Discovery

by ver_ironica



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, older paladins, superpower au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-04 04:54:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13356927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ver_ironica/pseuds/ver_ironica
Summary: The team discovers that their bonds with the Lions gives them powers they never would have thought possible. Allura and Coran try to find as much information from the Paladins of Old as they can before these abilities get out of control.Keith and Lance begin to discover more about their feelings for each other as they use one another to balance out their new powers. Fire and ice can be difficult to manage, after all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a very long project and I'm so happy to finally have this posted! A big thank you to everyone that helped edit and give feedback. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Here is a link to the playlist!  
> [Spotify link](https://open.spotify.com/user/lyrikitten/playlist/4s5XJ2Vdm1khzRERuahbk3)  
> [Youtube link](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBr1G1aI0xghZQXsiln5M-x1z_6eZno5t)  
> Thank you Lyrikin on Tumblr for the great music!

A loud cheer escaped Lance's lips as he melded his mind with his Lion's for the tenth time in a row. 

"You're fantastic, Blue!" he cried as he viewed the landscape below them through her eyes. She purred with pride as they flew over trees and bodies of water that glistened in the glow of the planet's sunset. The skies glowed brilliant greens and blues in the different atmosphere.

Times like these made the whole Paladin role bearable. 

"Alright, guys, bring the Lions in, great work, you're finally almost to the level of adolescent Alteans!" Allura praised them.

"Are you kidding me?" Hunk grumbled. 

“What are Alteans made of?” Pidge complained. It was a running joke more than anything, a nod to their first training session. 

Lance didn't want to stop seeing with his Lion's vision as they flew back to the Castle. Lately, he had been pushing it as far as he could, trying to see how long he could keep their minds together as he landed and stepped out of her cockpit. 

Her claws touched down in the Blue Lion hangar; Lance hopped out, eager to try again. He took a few steps out of Blue, watching himself walk through her eyes. A curious emotion from her flickered over through their bond, and Lance laughed. 

"Just keep an eye on me, girl, I don't want to run into a wall, I can't open my eyes yet, okay?" he said. "We're getting really good at this!"

But once he left her field of vision, he had to stop. He stumbled as he brought his focus back into his own eyes and his perspective of himself shifted. He giggled at the feeling though, it was definitely a hard one to describe. 

He met up with the rest of his friends in the control room. He excitedly ran over to Hunk and gave him a confident high five. Hunk beamed and returned it. 

"Guys, I think we're pros," Lance said with a smirk. 

"Hardly," Pidge grumbled, "Green almost ran me into a tree. She got so distracted about the composition of the plant material here." She rolled her eyes. 

"Would a tree hurt if you hit it? I run into trees all the time," Hunk wondered aloud. 

Pidge gave him a look. "Green is a lot smaller. Defense isn't her specialty."

"But she’s the shield," Keith said, confused. 

"She doesn't have the shield in front of her face, which also happens to be where I am!" Pidge retorted, defensive. 

Hunk held up a hand in front of his mouth and whispered loudly to Lance, "I think Pidge got scared of a tree even though she was in her giant mechanical cat."

Pidge muttered something angrily under her breath and crossed her arms in a huff. 

"Red seems to want to show me that she is better at the bond than I am. Everytime I try to see through her eyes or whatever, she blocks me out, and then forces a different vision into my head! And then I can't see where we're going, and I just have to trust her!" Keith threw his hands around in exasperation. "Today she showed me a vision of the time we first met, and I swear she was laughing at the part where I fell out into space." 

"But did you crash?" Shiro chimed in. 

"...No." 

"Then that's progress!" he said with a smile. 

"Yellow always shows me his favorite things while we fly. It's nice," Hunk said happily. 

"Dude, legs for life!" Lance high-fived Hunk again, laughing. 

"How was the Black Lion, Shiro?" Allura asked. 

The room tensed, as if everyone was holding their breath. After everything they had gone through, they all knew that Shiro was having a different experience with his Lion than the rest. It made things... interesting. 

"Actually," Shiro said with a shy smile, instantly dissolving the tension, "we were really melded today. Seamlessly. It was almost as if... well, it's hard to describe." 

The team cheered and congratulated Shiro, all happy that it seemed like things were finally resolving. 

"Well, it sounds like the only thing that could make things better for you Paladins is a nutritious and filling Paladin Lunch!" Coran exclaimed, bursting into the control room. "I have it all ready in the dining hall for you!" 

"I think I'm busy," Pidge said with a grimace. 

"There's a market nearby, right? We've already negotiated with the Wollobs, we should be able to shop there for some food," Keith suggested. 

"That sounds awesome, Allura, can we? Please?" Lance begged. 

She hummed thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "I guess so," she said with a shrug. Coran yelled out various indignant noises before he gave a resigned sigh. 

"Thank you, Princess!" Hunk said. 

They wasted no time getting out of the Castle. They hurried to get their suits on, and giggled like kids going to recess as they sprinted to their cruisers, chasing after each other and racing. Every now and then Shiro would caution them to take it easy, but always with a laugh close to the surface. 

The market was a huge expanse of sturdy buildings and vendor tents propped up between them. The roads were an interesting cobblestone that glowed slightly, even in the brightness of their planet's white star. It was a bit to take in, but the dark, rich colors of the tents and goods were too appealing to look away. 

"So where do we want to eat?" Pidge asked. 

Hunk sniffed the air with the expertise of a bloodhound. "This way," he declared, following a scent. 

Lance laughed. "I'll always trust you with food choices, Hunk. Except pineapple on pizza. That's your biggest downfall." 

"Say that to my face, you close-minded beanpole!" Hunk retorted, laughing. 

"I just did, big guy!"

The team quickly fell into a bickering match over the ethics of tropical fruit on pizza. Aliens nearby gave them confused stares, having absolutely no context to the strange fight happening between the Defenders of the Universe. 

Shiro finally got them to calm down, saying that ordering half-pineapple and half-traditional would be the best compromise. 

"When I'm tall enough to pilot the Black Lion, there will be no pineapple pizzas around here," Pidge muttered sullenly. 

Lance's cheeks hurt from laughing. This was the part about being on Team Voltron that helped get him through all the hardship they had faced until now. With switching Lions, being betrayed by a cloned Shiro, and everything else, Lance was pretty sure that arguing about pizza was the best thing happening to him. 

They finally reached the food stand. The alien had four arms, and all were expertly being used with a culinary prowess to cook up several dishes at once. They had a menu of different wraps and dumplings that made Lance's mouth water. 

"The smell alone is already more satisfying than Coran's Paladin lunch," Lance said. 

Lance's attention drifted over to Keith, as it seemed to have been doing more often lately. His arms were crossed, and he leaned against the food stand's rickety cloth walls. He hadn't said much at all during their trip, and Lance was getting a little worried. Keith had been going through a really tough time before, but had always seemed to trust his gut and get through it. Lance hoped he was doing alright. 

They got their food and sat at a nearby floating table. Pidge marveled at the electromagnetic repulsion mechanisms, and Lance marveled at his friends' intelligence as she and Hunk discussed it. After a point though, he couldn't help losing interest. Lance looked at Shiro, who looked like he was about to doze off into his food bowl, and smiled, happy he was finally relaxing.

"Hey, Keith," Lance said. He was sitting beside him, turning away from Pidge and Hunk growing animated about tech across the table. 

"What's up?" Keith asked, blowing on a steaming dumpling and eyeing it dubiously. 

"How have you been lately? You haven't really said much today." 

Keith gave the barest of pouts, and quickly popped the dumpling in his mouth. Lance winced, sure it was still too hot. But Keith swallowed it just fine. 

"Well, it's just been a bit... weird for me lately. I've been having issues connecting well with Red," Keith admitted. 

Lance barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course Keith was the most worried about his Lion bondingㅡright now, of all times. 

Keith paused, and put a gloved hand to his lips. He seemed to be having trouble explaining. "Lately, it feels like...well..." he started. 

"HEY! Stop, _thief!_ " a voice cried out in the crowd. 

"Aw, man," Pidge grumbled. 

Shiro snapped upright, followed by Keith. The rest startled into action, Hunk carrying his dumplings as they ran after the sound. 

The voice came from a bright yellow booth twenty feet away. A purple alien cried out continuously, yelling and pointing after the thief. Lance caught a glimpse of a person running past and ducking into the crowd. 

"There!" he yelled out, and ran. Keith and Shiro were right beside him, and Pidge and Hunk had gone over to speak with the shopkeeper for more information. They were a seamless unit, and came up with the same plans at the same time. It was also a perk of being Paladins of Voltron together for so long; their minds were sometimes very closely in sync, even when not linked by their Lions. 

They saw the figure ahead of them now, purple skin dark in the bright midday sun. Lance strained his legs, but they weren't carrying him fast enough to catch the thief. People nearby were leaping out of the way in surprise, and he had to be careful not to barrel into any of them. 

"We're not going to catch up to him," Shiro panted. "Let's go back to our cruisers and see if we can catch him." He tapped into the coms in his helmet. "Allura, Coran, there's a potential thief in the market, can you track--" 

With a surprised yelp, Keith lunged forward, his legs sprinting with a strange burst of speed. Lance watched in awe as Keith began speeding up to an inhuman pace, and quickly shortened the distance between them and the thief. 

Shiro and Lance slowed down and then stood, watching with open mouths. Keith was a blur, and suddenly had the alien in cuffs with his bayard pointing at his throat faster than a blink. 

"Keith?" Lance asked, confused. Did he eat something weird? Was this a hallucination?

"What was that?" Shiro asked as they approached him.

The alien was on the ground with a large satchel hanging over their neck. They looked to be the same species as the shopkeeper. Keith stood over him, pinning him under his boot. His sword was poised, sharp and threatening, keeping the thief from trying to escape. 

"Uh," Keith said. He blinked. He wasn't even panting or breaking a sweat. "I have no idea."

"Let's go back to the others. We'll discuss it back at the Castle," Shiro decided. 

"Shiro?" Allura's voice came worriedly through the coms. 

"Oh, Princess, sorry, we got... distracted. We've caught the thief and will bring them and the shopkeeper back to the Castle for you to decide what to do. You can contact the Wollob leader and ask about their laws and legal procedures," Shiro answered. 

"Right. We'll see you in a few ticks then. Let me know if you need anything else," she said, and signed back off. 

The alien was muttering protests about how innocent they were, but they were only half-listening. The Paladins didn't decide guilt, just tried to help governing people do it themselves. 

Keith's sword was trembling in his grip. Lance cautiously put a hand on his shoulder. "Keith?"

"I'm fine," he insisted, dragging the prisoner up to their feet and leading them back to their cruisers. He brushed off Lance's hand with a stiff movement, and Lance tried not to feel hurt, but failed.

Lance nodded instead, unconvinced. Keith had just sprinted at unnatural speeds to catch the thief. The aliens around were also in shock, maybe at the casual display, or their own mixed reactions to their victory. The crowd was full of whispers as Shiro, Lance, and Keith walked through it, thief in tow. The native Wollobs and foreign aliens all nodded in thanks slowly as they realized the story. 

Their group met up with Hunk and Pidge, who filled them in on the details. Apparently, the thief was from a rival trading company, and wanted to steal profits to bankrupt their competitor. There could be more thieves waiting. In turn, they told Pidge and Hunk their side. Keith remained silent as Lance explained their experience. 

"And Keith ran... really fast. And caught them," Lance finished lamely. 

"Really fast?" Hunk asked. 

"Like... inhumanly fast. Almost like a cartoon?" Lance struggled to explain. 

"Fast enough to suggest something unusual is going on, and we need to hurry back to the Castle," Shiro said evenly. 

Hunk and Pidge nodded, mistified. Lance shrugged at them. 

They made it back to their cruisers, more somber than they had been when they went out to the market not that long before. Keith connected the cuffs to his cruiser, and propped the alien on the backseat. 

They made it back to the Castle where Coran and Allura were waiting for them with the Wollob leader, Wrandahl. 

"Hello, Paladins," Allura said formally, in her diplomatic attire. "I assume this is the alleged thief?" 

Keith pulled him forward, and Lance eyed him, worried. He didn't look so good. He was pale, and his muscles were clenched and tight.

"This is them, Princess," Shiro said. 

Pidge began to explain her and Hunk's tale the shopkeeper had explained to them. They were absorbed in her story, listening intently with frowns. Or, in Wrandahl's case, sets of frowns. 

Keith wobbled, and Lance reached out to steady him instantly. He hadn’t even realized how intently he had been watching him. 

"We're going to go grab something to drink, it was really hot out there and we had spicy dumplings," Lance excused them as politely as he could manage, straining a wide smile on his face. 

He took Keith's shoulders and walked him away from the surprised group. They continued talking as they walked away, their voices finally muffling as they passed through the hallway door. 

Instantly, Keith darted out of Lance's arms. He shot twenty feet down the hall in a flash. 

"Whoa," Lance said, confused. 

"I don't feel quite right," Keith admitted. "My Lion--I think I need to go see her. Okay?"

Lance nodded, shaken. "Alright. I guess I'll..." Go back to the others? That's what he should've said, but... 

"Could you come with me?" Keith blurted. He darted back to Lance's side, moving so fast it made Lance's brain hurt. 

"Yeah, but, you gotta take it easy with that speed thing you have going on," Lance said, feeling dizzy. 

Keith nodded. "I'll try. I don't understand it either." 

They made their way to the Red Lion hangar, with Keith occasionally moving in small bursts of speed forward ahead of Lance, and then patiently waiting for him to catch up. Lance noted that even though he couldn't control the speed, Keith seemed to be perfectly in control of where he was going when the sprints happened. 

The Red Lion sat, imposing and bright, before them. She looked down on them, her yellow eyes glowing slightly. 

"Ah, we had some good times, huh, Red? You miss me yet, kitty?" Lance jokingly asked the Lion, patting her hard metal paw tenderly. 

As usual, no reaction. But Keith gave a little chuckle that made it worth it. 

"Okay, I need to focus. I think my Lion is trying to communicate something to me," Keith said seriously. 

"Alright," Lance agreed. 

Keith closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. His face quickly contorted up into a grimace. 

"What's wrong?" Lance asked, concerned. 

"Red is very... pressing," Keith grunted. "Like always."

He stayed still again, clenched up and face scrunched. Lance would've laughed if he weren't so worried. 

Suddenly, Red roared, shaking the room around them. 

"Ah!" Keith gasped, putting his hands to his head and falling to the ground in a startled drop. 

"Keith!" Lance yelped with surprise, rushing to catch him. But when he touched Keith's skin, it was blazing hot. "Ouch! What the quiznak?"

"Well," Keith groaned from the floor. "I think Red has told me what she can." 

"What is it? What's wrong?"

He gave a pained laugh, hands still at his temples and eyes closed. "Red says we've achieved a new level in our bond. Our abilities are being shared across it," Keith explained. 

"Your--what?" Lance asked, lost. 

"Red is fast," Keith said, opening his eyes, looking into Lance's gaze. Lance was leaned over him, still poised to help him stand. 

"Right..." Lance said slowly. 

"Now I'm fast," he said. 

"You're...uh...fast," Lance repeated. 

"Yes."

Lance stood still, trying to process this. Keith was sharing his abilities with his giant metal space cat across a magical sciency bond? That's a lot to try to understand. 

"But what about your skin?" Lance asked. 

"My skin?" Keith asked. 

"Yeah, I tried to catch you, but you basically set me on fire," Lance said nervously. 

"Hm," Keith hummed, and touched his arm with his own hand. "I can't feel anything."

"Let me try again," Lance insisted, and reached out to grab Keith's arm again. This time, it was a bit warm, but nothing as intense as before. "Huh... it feels fine now," he said, his touch lingering, just to be sure. 

Keith looked up at him with his indigo eyes, intense with curiosity. Lance had to look away as he helped Keith stand, his cheeks growing hot. 

"Well, I guess we need to explain this to the others," Keith winced. 

"Yeah, this...this is a weird one," Lance agreed. 

\---

"So then Red roared, like, super loud, and told Keith that they've unlocked a new bond level achievement together. And so he's fast now," Lance finished. He left out the part about the hot skin. It could just have been his imagination. 

Silence filled the control room. After settling things with the Wollob leader and the thief trader, they quickly decided to have an important team meeting. 

Allura spoke first. "Can you show us, Keith?"

Keith nodded, and in a heartbeat he was at the other end of the room. Coran and Allura gave startled gasps, and Keith grimaced. 

"Is it really that weird?" he asked in a quiet voice, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"No, no, no, of course not dude! We've definitely seen weirder," Lance assured him quickly. 

Keith looked down, unconvinced. He crossed his arms. "Well, also, it feels like if I do it too much, I get really wobbly. Like... I don't think my human body--er, well, you know what I mean, Galra, whatever--I don't think my body can handle moving like that all the time." 

Coran hummed thoughtfully. "Ehrm, Princess, I think I do recall a bit of information that could be of use in this situation."

"What is it?" Allura asked. 

"King Alfor didn't leave me much advice before he went to battle Zarkon," Coran said slowly, "but he did leave me one thing that I've never quite understood. He said, 'Coran, Voltron is the most powerful weapon in the Universe. Those who pilot the Lions must be of good character, for bonding with your Lion gives you some of that power.'" He put a hand to his mustache. "I wonder now how much of that was literal."

"So, wait, this could happen to all of us?" Pidge asked. 

"Maybe so, Number Five," Coran said. 

"There were always rumors that the Paladins had more powerful abilities than normal people, but I always thought they were just stories told by people admiring their heroes," Allura mused. "Father never mentioned them."

"Maybe they were trying to keep it a secret for some reason?" Shiro suggested. 

Allura shook herself. "Well, we'll have to investigate this some more later. For now, congratulations on your bond, Keith, well done."

"Yeah, man, that's super cool," Hunk agreed. 

"Nice work, Keith," Shiro said. 

Lance looked at Keith's uncertain face. "I'm really tired. Do you guys mind if I go to bed?" Keith asked, almost sheepishly. 

Keith was _never_ tired. Or at least, he never admitted it. The room was quiet for a minute, before Shiro answered. "Of course you can. Sleep well."

The team nodded in surprised agreement, and Keith slipped out of the room. Lance chewed his lip, trying to ignore a nagging feeling that something was wrong. 

\---

Lance woke up early the next day. He didn't sleep very well to begin with, and knew he would have dark circles starting to form under his eyes today. He hadn’t put on his face mask last night, either. It was going to be a rough day for his looks. But he had to get out of bed and figure things out. He went to see the Blue Lion.

Blue looked down at him, her head cocked slightly. He felt a trickle of curiosity in the back of his head. 

"Hey, girl," Lance sighed. "Can we go for a ride?" 

Talking out his problems to Blue had become a fixture in his routines. It was hard being a Paladin, after all, and throwing your own problems at your equally stressed teammates didn't sit right with Lance. Blue was an excellent listener. Sometimes, she even offered something like advice, but it was in a confusing and vague Lion-y sort of way. Usually, it was things like a picture of some scenery, or colors, or feelings. Or a mixture, arranged in a way that was supposed to mean something. 

Lance decided to ask her about Keith's weird speed. It had been bothering him, and he was worried Keith wasn't telling anyone how much it weirded him out, too. "So Keith has superpowers now? I guess that's what we're calling them?" he said. "Is this really a Paladin thing? Or maybe is it just because he's Galra?"

Blue rumbled, not giving a very clear answer. She showed him a mental image of a frozen ocean. 

"I'm a bit worried about him," Lance admitted softly. The landscape around them was beautiful in the early morning sun. Two of the planet's moons still peaked through the clouds. It was breathtaking. 

But it wasn't enough to ease his worries. Lance shivered. Was it a bit cold in here today? 

"Paladins!" Allura's voice blared suddenly from the coms. "I need you all in the bridge immediately!"

Lance sighed--he hadn't even gotten to the fun part yet. "I guess we'll have to talk again later, beautiful," he said wistfully to his Lion. When he sighed, he could've sworn he saw the puff of his breath. He turned Blue back toward the Castle, pushing her to speed up. "And when I come back, can you turn the heat up in here? I'm freezing."

Blue rumbled something like an agreement, filling his head with a feeling he had learned to interpret as "okay, but toughen up." 

"Gee, thanks," Lance said, teeth chattering a little.

They hurried to land in the Blue Lion's hangar. Unfortunately, there wasn't a fast way _up_ from the Lions to the bridge, so Lance had to hop in the elevator and wait a handful of ticks before he finally reached the bridge's floor. He sprinted to the room, the exertion making his nose run a little. 

_I hope I'm not catching a cold,_ he thought warily as he sniffled. That was the last thing he needed right now. 

He flew into the bridge, doubling over for a tick to catch his breath. "Sorry I'm late," he panted. 

Allura raised an eyebrow at him. "At least you're already in your armor for the day," she said with a shrug. 

Now that they had had spent a lot more time together, Allura and Lance had a much better relationship, especially after both having their times as the Blue Paladin. He still teased and flirted with her every now and then, but it was all friendly jabs now. Allura had even shot back some zingers of her own, leaving Lance speechless. They supported each other, through anything. It was nice that she also took him more seriously when he discussed strategies with her, both battle and diplomatic. 

He felt his mouth tugging into a smile. But then he shivered, and sniffed again. He rubbed his hands on his arms to try to warm up. _Where had this come from?_

“Paladins,” Allura began, clasping her hands together and looking out toward them, “due to recent…events, occurring yesterday, Coran and I decided to see what information we could gather in regards to what can development in Paladins with their bonds to their Lions.”

“It turns out this may be more of a project than we thought,” Coran added dubiously. 

“We found two transmissions recorded by my father,” Allura said. “It seems to indicate that the abilities like Keith displayed were quite a puzzlement to the first Paladins, and they decided to keep it a secret to keep Voltron safe.”

“There was already enough reason to want to capture Voltron for one’s evil self. Mystical powers weren’t necessary to blare to the general sectors,” Coran said brightly. 

Allura made a motion with her hands, and a video of Alfor formed in the air. He was a lot younger than Lance had remembered his AI appearing before the crystal venom had corrupted it. His eyes were bright, and his beard was trimmed nicely, framing his handsome face. 

“I had noticed a change in my bond with the Red Lion,” began King Alfor. “It had seemed like she was… insisting something to me, or urging me to find something. So after some meditating with her, I had a vague hint of what to do. I’m going to record it now and try to better understand what is happening.” 

Alfor backed up from the view a few feet, and took a deep breath. He took a normal step, and then lurched forward with several steps happening faster than the camera could follow. 

Lance looked over at Keith, expecting him to be walled off and unreadable. But instead, Keith was looking with wide eyes at the video, his mouth slightly parted. _He must not have known what it looked like,_ Lance guessed. But the way the current Red Paladin stared, so intent and full of wonder, made Lance’s mouth curve up in a smile. It was pretty cute—er, cool, after all. Pretty cool. 

Alfor returned to the center of the screen. “I will be running tests on this later. I have not yet spoken with the other Paladins, but I am curious to see if their Lions have been communicating with them this way as well. Goodbye for now.” The feed froze on Alfor’s shy smirk.

Allura looked at her Paladins before swiping a hand to start the next video. 

Alfor jutted into view, in a familiar burst of motion.. “It seems the other Paladins have indeed begun experiencing something similar. Zarkon seems…especially excited about the possibilities. After some discussion, I convinced him to wait on making these…abilities public until we have time to fully investigate and learn to control them.” Alfor grimaced, giving the camera a pained smile. “Right now I can barely keep this odd speed hidden from my wife. It feels as though the Red Lion is the pushiest of them all, or I am the least skilled at controlling it.”

He began pacing back and forth, sometimes moving faster than normally possible. His forehead seemed to be glistening with a hint of sweat. 

“We will need to begin to extensively train on this phenomena. We need to be sure that Voltron can still be a powerful force of balance and peace for the Universe. Should these powers become a hindrance, I can only hope we can find a way to continue our mission. I will continue recording our observations,” he said dutifully to the camera before the feed stopped again. 

“These were the only two recordings we managed to find at our first search in the Castle library,” Allura said, her voice a bit tight. 

“But he implied that there was more record keeping than we were able to find at a quick glance,” Coran added. “So, Paladins, we have decided to continue looking and see what else we can find.”

“Can we help?” Pidge asked. “I’m really concerned that Alfor didn’t mention anything about what the other Paladins’ abilities were. Are they all the same?”

“It would make sense that the different Lions have different abilities,” Hunk said.

Keith had a hand up against his chin. He tapped his foot rapidly again. “He said he meditated with his Lion to communicate with her. Maybe we could start there too?” 

“That’s a good idea, Keith,” Shiro said. He nodded, and the Paladins followed the easy cue and made their way to their respective hangers. 

Lance hurried to catch Keith before he got too far. The others were gone, Allura giving Lance one last glance before she and Coran left to search the Castle.

Lance put a hand on his shoulder. Even through his glove, Keith felt warm.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance asked. 

Keith, startled, hopped away from Lance’s touch. “Whoa, are you alright Lance?”

“Ha-ha,” he said with an eyeroll. “I know I didn’t wear my face mask last night, but I don’t look _that_ ugly. Look, I--”

“No, Lance, you’re really cold,” Keith said, raising an eyebrow in surprise. 

“Cold?” he repeated. “I mean, I was really cold this morning. I think Blue had the temperature low for some reason. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were feeling alright.”

“Me? Feeling alright?” Keith asked. 

“Yeah. You went to bed early last night and I was just worried.” Lance sniffed again and shivered. He may have been wrong by saying he wasn’t still cold. Maybe he was sick with some space flu.

Keith narrowed his eyes. “I’m fine.”

Lance looked at him, slouching and flattening his expression. 

“Okay, fine,” Keith said after a pause. “I just feel very… hot. I’m sweating and uncomfortable. I think I have a fever.” 

Lance frowned. “You should be resting, then.”

Keith gave him a deadpan look. “I should say the same to you. You’ve been sniffling all morning.”

Lance laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’ve got me there. I am feeling like I may have a cold. Maybe there’s something going around?” 

“Yeah, maybe,” Keith said. He looked reluctantly towards his Lion hanger. “Let’s go talk with our Lions and then we’ll both rest, deal?”

“Deal,” Lance agreed. 

\---

Once in Blue’s hangar, Lance felt uneasy. “What aren’t you telling me, girl?” he asked her as he approached her.

It felt like she was ignoring him, but it’s hard to read the emotions of a giant metal space cat. She opened up for him, and he sat in the pilot’s chair. He breathed out, and his breath formed a cloud in the air. 

“Why is it so cold in here? Do you have something wrong with your settings?” Lance asked, frustrated. He sniffled again. “I won’t be able to relax and meditate with you in here, I’m sorry girl.”

He made the motion to try to leave, but she didn’t respond. “Oh, c’mon,” he complained. He felt a sneeze building in the back of his throat. He bent his face into his elbow and sneezed. 

A sonic boom unleashed, throwing him backwards in the cockpit. His back struck against Blue’s hard interior, and he fell to the ground with a groan. 

He blinked, dazed. “Blue…? What in the world was that?” 

Blue responded by showing Lance a memory taken from a few seconds ago in the cockpit. When Lance sneezed, he released a sonic wave that was powerful enough to shake her and throw him against the wall inside. 

“That was… me? I did that?” 

Blue rumbled. 

“Lance!” Keith’s voice came over the coms. 

“What was that noise?” Allura demanded. 

“Um,” Lance answered, “I think I have Blue’s sonic powers.”

There was silence for a moment. 

“That was _you_?” Pidge demanded. 

“I’m sorry?” Lance tried, his nose tickling. “I don’t understand either. I don’t--ahh--” With a loud boom, Lance sneezed again, throwing himself around the cockpit again. He was going to be seriously bruised. He rubbed his head and groaned.

Shiro’s voice came through the coms. “Lance, you need to try to relax so you don’t--” 

And suddenly, Shiro’s voice was _right there._ “--hurt yourself.” 

Lance whirled up in confusion to see Shiro, looking lost, standing in the Blue Lion’s cockpit. “Um,” Lance said. “Shiro?”

“Yeah, Lance?” 

“You’re in my Lion.” 

“...Yeah.” 

“You were just in the Black Lion,” Lance said slowly. “Like, one second ago.”

“...Yeah,” Shiro said again. 

“My scanners just picked up another burst of energy after that last sonic boom from Lance,” Pidge exclaimed. “What was that?”

“I think that I may have caused that one,” Shiro said. “I am now standing in Lance’s Lion.” 

“You’re _what_?” Keith burst. 

“I think I have Black’s teleportation,” Shiro said, putting a hand to his forehead. He looked pale. 

“Whoa, Shiro, are you alright?” Lance asked. Shiro groaned.

“Yeah, just a headache,” Shiro said unconvincingly. 

“Paladins, have you all made progress?” Allura asked. 

A chorus of “um”s came from the five of them. Lance and Shiro looked at each other, bewildered.

“Fantastic! Report to the bridge,” Allura said. 

\---

Lance assumed he was last to the bridge again. At one step, Shiro had teleported out of Blue with a confused expression. Keith had his speed still, so that was a given. Still, Lance hurried so he wouldn’t be last like he had that morning. 

When he finally arrived to the bridge, he gave a little shout of excitement. Allura, Shiro, Keith, and Hunk were in the room. “Awesome! Not last, Pidge isn’t here yet.” 

At first the team gave a little smile and eye-roll his way, before an indignant voice yelled. “Excuse you, I’m right here?”

Keith ran twenty feet away from the noise in a blink. The team jumped in surprise. 

“Pidge?” Shiro asked tentatively. 

“Um, yes? I know I’m short, guys, but this is taking it too far,” Pidge’s voice said. 

“Where are you?” Hunk asked, looking around the room. 

“Well, I _was_ right next to Keith but he ran over to the other side of the room,” she said. 

There was nothing there. 

“Pidge, are you invisible? Like Green?” Lance asked with excitement. 

“What?” she burst. 

Lance whipped out his orange phone and took a picture. He carefully approached the voice, showing her the image. 

“Huh, I guess I am,” she said slowly. Her image shifted, like a reflection in turbulent water, and she was there. She was looking at her arms with surprise. 

Keith slowly approached her. “Sorry for being scared. That’s really cool, Pidge.” He gave her a pat on the back. 

This time Pidge jumped away from Keith. “Ouch! Did you just burn me?” 

He quickly pulled his hand down. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry Pidge! I forgot.” He looked nervously to the team. “I think I have some of Red’s firepower.” 

This took the team aback. “Wait-- _two_ powers? Oh, man how unfair!” Lance complained, breaking the shocked silence. 

Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance, who gave him a tiny wink to show he was just kidding. Keith’s face grew red and he sputtered a bit before talking. “Yeah, I just, um, can do _this_ now.” 

He held out a hand, and a spark of flame flickered up from his palm. 

The team made various noises of astonishment. 

“Keith that is extraordinary,” Allura said with amazement. 

Lance couldn’t help but watch with wonder. The fire itself was beautiful, small and shining light onto Keith’s shy expression. After a few flickers, he was even smirking.

Sweat was beginning to form on Keith’s brow and he waved his hand to stop the fire. He shuffled over to his seat and plopped down with a sigh. 

“I think there’s a limit to these,” he said. “I think we can only do so much before we get too tired. I also used some of my speed to get up here quickly, which may make it worse.”

“So let me see if I’m still on the same page,” Hunk said, holding up his hand and using his fingers to count as he talked. “So Lance has sonic booms, Pidge can turn invisible, and Keith has speed and fire. What else?” 

“Shiro can teleport,” Lance added. 

Allura made a face. “Yes, I witnessed that myself earlier.”

“Sorry for scaring you, I didn’t mean to,” Shiro said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Okay,” Hunk said in that voice he uses when he’s definitely freaking out but not trying to show it. “And Shiro can teleport. I don’t think I can do anything like that. I tried communicating with Yellow and he just showed me a bunch of pictures of rocks.” 

Pidge snickered at that. “He’s so sweet.” 

“We’ll figure this out, Hunk, don’t worry,” Shiro reassured. 

Allura stood in front of them, a bit thoughtful. “Yes, good work today Paladins. You can relax for now. This is... definitely an unexpected change in our plans. We will be leaving Wollob here in a few quintants after we finish negotiating their part of the Voltron Coalition as well as making some needed repairs to the ship. Let me know if anything else happens. Don't push yourselves too much though, alright?”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Lance said with a mock salute. Allura smiled and saluted back with an eye-roll. 

The team headed out of the control room. Lance was about to follow, but he noticed Keith was still there in his chair. He fought back a cold shiver as he approached Keith. 

“Keith?” he asked tentatively. 

“Yeah?” Keith said in his usual brooding tone. 

“You just hanging out? I know those chairs aren’t _that_ comfy.” Lance crossed his arms. 

“I just wanted to hang back for a minute,” he said. 

Lance was _freezing_ , he would much rather be heading to his bed to snuggle into his blankets. But something wasn’t right with Keith. “What’s the matter?”

Keith sighed, and his tense posture seemed to relax slightly. “I am just really hot and tired, I didn’t want to get up until I had to.” He looked down, embarrassed. 

“So--wait,” Lance said, suddenly connecting the dots. “You’re _hot_!”

A red flush colored Keith’s cheeks. “Um.”

“No, no, no, I mean you’re warm, your temperature is hot because you can use Red’s fire! I’m freezing, do you think that means I can use Blue’s ice?” Lance said excitedly. 

Keith seemed to shake away his embarrassment. “Try it?” he suggested. 

“How do I do it?” Lance asked, nervous.

“Here,” Keith said, reaching for his arm. He gently grabbed his wrist, holding Lance’s hand up like he had done earlier to use his fire. “Just hold you hand like this and think about the feeling you get when you use Blue’s ice while piloting.”

Lance couldn’t lie, the heat of Keith’s hands felt amazing, even through their Paladin armor. The relief made him realize just how miserably cold he was before. He was almost too distracted to pay attention. “Huh? Oh, okay, yeah, let me try.” 

He closed his eyes and focused. He heard Keith gasp. 

He opened his eyes to see shards of ice spreading out from his outstretched palm. Ice was coating Keith’s hands and forming icicles on their grasp. 

“Ah!” Lance tried to jump back, but the ice had him and Keith stuck together, so instead he just fell forward next to Keith, bracing himself with his other hand on Keith's shoulder. “How do I make it stop?”

“Relax, Lance.” Instead of pulling away, Keith held him steady. “Just, I don’t know, shake it off? Like, in your head?”

Lance looked at Keith like he had three eyes, but decided to try to do what he suggested. He exhaled, envisioning the ice breaking away. 

And just like that, it crumbled off their arms and onto the floor. 

“Ah! Shoot, do you have a towel?” Lance asked.

Laughter bubbled out of Keith, causing something to flutter in Lance’s chest. “Lance, you just generated ice from nothing and you’re worried about the water on the floor?”

“Well, yeah, it’ll make a puddle. Someone could slip,” Lance mumbled, embarrassed. His cheeks were probably bright red. 

Keith looked like he was about to make a snappy remark, but before he did, he looked down at their hands still clasped together. His cheeks flushed as he quickly let go of Lance. 

Lance shivered at the sudden loss of heat. 

Keith’s eyes were drawn to the movement. “Are you still cold?”

In response, Lance shivered again. “A bit, yeah.” 

“If you want--” Keith bit his lip shyly. “We can keep holding hands. I’m still very hot also. I think your ice actually helped a lot.”

Lance laughed nervously. “Are you sure? That it’s not too weird or anything?”

“No, it makes sense,” Keith said seriously. “Until we can figure these abilities out, we should try to help each other, right?” 

Lance nodded. “Right.” If he could also figure out how to keep his stomach from fluttering when he touched Keith, that would be great. They’ve been close friends for so long now, surely he could control his emotions about this. 

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like how much Keith’s hair has grown out, or find it cute how he would often absentmindedly pull it back into a little knot or braid. He’d also be wrong to say that he didn’t get a little shiver when Keith’s intense eyes looked into his, but that happened all the time with close friends--right? 

Okay, okay, in addition to the weird Paladin powers they were trying to understand, Lance had to admit he also had another problem. He liked Keith. A lot. 

\---


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team has to help keep the peace on Wollob, hopefully without giving away their new powers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! This chapter includes the amazing art from Lyrikin on Tumblr! 
> 
> Chapter 3 will be up shortly!

After a while of sitting and looking out the windows together, Keith finally felt rested enough to go back to his room. They stood, dropping their hands. Instantly, the sweltering heat was back, pressing against Keith. He felt stifled, like he couldn’t breathe. He tugged on his collar uncomfortably. 

Lance shivered as they walked out of the doors. He sniffled, and Keith couldn’t help looking at how his arms wrapped around himself unconsciously. 

“I guess it isn’t going to get any better any time soon,” Lance said with a grimace. 

“We can keep holding hands if you want?” Keith asked. _Please?_

“Wh-what if someone else sees us? Won’t it look weird?” Lance sputtered, his teeth chattering. 

Sweat was dripping down Keith’s back now, and it felt like he wasn’t getting enough air. “Lance, look at yourself, you’re freezing. And what if you make another sonic boom because your nose is running?” 

“Good point,” Lance said in defeat. 

Keith grabbed one of Lance’s arms, helping him slowly unclench from around his torso. They walked like that, Keith sighing with relief from the intense heat. They were close to their rooms now. 

A startled yelp sounded through the halls. Keith and Lance looked at each other in surprise, and then ran to the sound of the noise. Keith stumbled a bit, he tried to keep himself from using any weird powers to run fast right now. He was too tired. 

They rounded the corner and saw Hunk and Shiro coming from the other direction. They had both changed out of their Paladin uniforms already. 

“Did you guys hear that noise, too?” Lance asked. 

Hunk nodded. “Yeah it sounded like--wait, are you guys holding hands?” 

“It’s a long story, don’t read into it,” Keith said quickly. “Were you about to say it sounded like Pidge?” 

“Um,” Hunk said. “Yes.” 

The four of them gathered around Pidge’s door. “Pidge?” Shiro called, knocking on the door. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m not...sure?” came the uncertain reply. 

“Can we open the door?” Shiro asked. 

“Please do?” Pidge answered, her voice wavering.

The door whooshed open, and the team was pushed backwards by a mass of green. Keith stumbled and fell.

“What the cheese?” Lance asked from a few feet away. He and Keith lost their grip of each other. 

“Are these… vines?” Keith asked, blinking. 

From a few feet away, Pidge spoke, her voice confused and embarrassed. “Yeah." 

Keith craned his neck from his position on the ground to see Pidge standing sheepishly in the doorway, surrounded by vines and leaves. She was dressed in her casual clothes, holding a flower pot that had cracked, with giant roots and stems shooting outward. In her room, plants were overgrown and tangled up with the electrical wiring and bits scattered about. 

“I… had a weird feeling and I was watering my plants and…” she tried to explain. 

“This is really cool, Pidge!” Hunk said, gently looking over the vines in his direction. 

“I don’t know how to make them go away though,” she said nervously. 

“Keith! You should help her like you helped me!” Lance said. 

“Um, alright,” Keith said, struggling to stand up, but getting tangled in more foliage. “Pidge, just envision shaking if off.”

Pidge gave Keith an incredulous look before shrugging. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and exhaled.  
The plants withdrew, not dying, but shrinking themselves down. Finally, they were small enough that they weren’t stretching out from their shelving in Pidge’s room. 

Pidge cautiously opened one eye to peek, and then both were wide in excitement. “They’re back to normal! Or, well, still a bit bigger, but not unnaturally giant anymore.” She sighed with relief. “Thanks, Keith.” 

Keith was finally standing up now. He nervously smiled. “No problem.”

Pidge grimaced. “That made me really tired,” she complained, rubbing her stomach. She pushed up her glasses onto her face. “So what did you mean by Keith helping you, Lance?”

“Oh! Check this out!” Lance held out a hand. He exhaled, and the cloud of his breath was visible as ice crystallized on his palm. “Pretty cool, huh?” 

“This just keeps getting weirder,” Hunk muttered. 

“Also!” Lance sang, running over to Keith a grabbing his hand. “Keith and I can balance out each other’s temperatures so we don’t feel too cold or too hot anymore.” 

“You spoke to soon, Hunk,” Pidge mumbled. “It’s even weirder now.”

“Please don’t be weird, guys,” Lance begged. “We’ve both actually been super uncomfortable ever since this stuff started and this is the  
only thing that’s helped so far.”

“It’s not weird,” Shiro said. “Especially if you guys feel better.” 

Lance beamed, squeezing Keith’s hand a little. He couldn’t help but blush a little at how nicely Lance had explained their situation to the team. 

“I’m _sure_ they’re feeling better,” Pidge said knowlying. 

“So anyway,” Keith said quickly, shooting a look at Pidge. “Hunk, I guess that makes you the last one to figure out what you can do?”

Hunk rubbed that back of his neck. “I guess so. Hopefully I can do something. I mean, I don’t have any giant drills or shoulder cannons or anything that I didn’t know about before. I don’t really know what I could end up doing.” 

“Hey, don’t sweat it, big guy, we’ll figure it out,” Lance said. 

“Yeah, no, yeah, it’s fine.” Hunk waved a hand. 

“Paladins!”

They all turned to see Coran running at them from around the corner. He was smiling, but Coran sprinting and smiling is more scary than exciting. 

“What is it, Coran?” Pidge asked, the bravest in asking about something that made Coran excited. 

“I found another recording! This one should help us find the rest,” he said. 

“That’s great! I could really use some rules about this stuff so Lance and I don’t have to hold hands forever,” Keith joked. 

He felt Lance stiffen beside him. “Yeah,” he laughed, “me too.” Lance looked away from Keith. 

Coran continued running past them. “Great, let’s go back up and show the princess!” 

“Ugh, we didn’t even get to change yet,” Lance complained as they turned to follow Coran. 

“How would you and Keith have managed that anyway? Don’t you have to keep holding hands?” Pidge asked with a sneer. 

“It’s not like we can’t let go!” Keith sputtered. But he didn’t want to, not even to prove a point. Lance seemed to feel the same way, holding Keith’s hand tighter as he made a face at Pidge. 

“Do you guys feel weird at all?” Lance asked, changing the subject. “Like Keith and I are obviously hot and cold. Pidge are you… leafy? I don’t know.” 

Pidge paused for a second to think. “I feel itchy, and hungry.”

“Shiro? How are you feeling?” Keith asked. 

“Dry?” he answered, thinking. “A bit like when you know the next thing you’re going to touch will shock you with static electricity. Sorry if that doesn’t quite make any sense, I don’t understand it either.” 

“What about you, big guy?” Lance asked, looking at Hunk. 

Hunk hummed. “I just feel off. Maybe... I don't know, more solid? Also hungry but that is pretty normal, it’s almost lunch time.” He shrugged. “I don’t feel too different, anyway.” 

Shiro peered down the hallway. “Is Coran actually running the whole way? I guess we should hurry to--” 

In a flash of sparks, Shiro teleported away. 

“That’s convenient,” Lance grumbled. 

Keith laughed at Lance’s sour expression. “Speed and teleportation are very handy,” he said smugly. “A sonic boom doesn’t get you very far.”

“Oh yeah? Well next time I’m feeling sneezy I’ll put you in front of me and we’ll see how far I can throw you,” Lance challenged. 

“Ew?” Pidge said. 

“Yeah, that came out weird, didn’t it?” Lance agreed. Keith laughed again. 

They finally made it to the bridge where Coran, Allura, and Shiro were already discussing the recording. 

“Good! You guys are here. Let’s watch the video,” Allura said. She waved her arms and the feed appeared on a screen. 

Alfor stood in the Castle library, stacks of electronic books around him in huge piles. “Hello again,” he said. “I’ve been trying to research these abilities to understand them better, but it has been a fairly fruitless endeavor. I’m afraid we’ll have to sort these out on our own. Poor Blaytz has been by my side for this, as we seem to have complementary abilities that balance out when in close contact. 

“The others aren’t so lucky. Trigel has described feeling like plants are constantly itching her skin. Zarkon keeps finding himself in other rooms as soon as he thinks about walking into them. Gyrgan, on the other hand,” Alfor paused, smiling. “Gyrgan is the happiest. He has been constantly training, enjoying the feeling of the training bots trying to hit him and failing to hurt him.”

Alfor looked seriously at the camera. “We came together as a group and decided that we needed to research more into this. Zarkon and I both came to the conclusion that we should ask Honerva if she could investigate the nature of our abilities.”

The current Paladins looked nervously at one another at that news.

“She will still be the only one to know about our abilities,” Alfor continued. While talking, he idly lifted his hand and flicked fire on his palm. 

“We need to be secretive about this. I am almost certain no good will be gained from the people learning of these abilities. So from now on, Honerva will be trusted to keep data and recordings dealing with these powers. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some answers soon. Goodbye for now.” 

Silence filled the room as the feed ended. 

“This does not seem good,” Hunk spoke first. 

“How on earth are we going to get the rest of the research?” Lance asked. 

Keith felt nervous. He was warm, his palms sweaty under his gloves. They were so close to learning more about these powers, but just like that it looked like it would be impossible. “We don’t,” Keith said simply. “We’ll just have to figure these things out ourselves.” 

“What did they mean about the Yellow Paladin’s powers?” Hunk asked. “Gyrgan could get hit my training bots and not feel it? Should I try that?” 

“Maybe there is a way to get to Honerva’s recordings,” Allura said, concentrating. 

“It would’ve either been lost on Daibazaal or Altea, Princess,” Coran said sadly, shaking his head. “There isn’t anything we could do.” 

“What about Lotor?” Allura asked. “He might have some of her research.”

The room filled with tension. Shiro stepped forward. “Princess, you know we can’t trust Lotor. Even if he knows something, he wouldn’t help us without us giving him something in return.”

“Right,” Allura agreed. “It was a silly idea. Ignore it.” She waved her hand dismissively. 

A ringing noise from the Castle’s communication line sounded. Coran looked into it. “Princess, the Wollobs are trying to contact us.”

Allura nodded and the large screen filled the front of the control bridge. Wrandahl, the Wollob leader, stood in the center of it. 

“Voltron,” he spoke, his voice a garbled tone and his sets of eyes glancing about nervously, “we request your aid. The thief we apprehended yester-quintant was just the start of a large fight between rivalling trading groups on Wollob.”

“Wrandahl, what’s going on?” Allura asked. 

The leader tried to pull their messy blue hair out of their eyes nervously. “The market is in flames, we can’t get our own police in to help the trapped shoppers.” A crash shook the feed, and it was large enough that they could feel it all the way where the castle-ship was docked. Wrandahl ducked, with one last cry. “Please hurry!” The signal cut off. 

“Keith, Lance, you are already suited up. Do you think the two of you can handle this?” Allura asked. The two of them nodded to her. 

“Good. If you need backup we can help, but it’s such a small space that it would be better if there were less of you out there.”

“We’ve been in, like, a million battles. I think we can take care of a little riot,” Lance bragged. 

Keith rolled his eyes at his overconfidence, but agreed. “Let’s go.” 

The two of them reluctantly let go of their hands to run to their Lions. It may be unpleasant, but this wasn’t the time to think about their own comforts. 

Keith was still a bit tired from the morning, but the adrenaline had him using his speed to hurry to the Red Lion’s zipline track. Once in Red, he quickly flew out of the Castle, and was over at the market in only a few ticks. Lance was following behind in Blue. 

A large gray cloud was brewing above the area. Rows of tents were smoking or flaming. Native Wollobs and foreign aliens were running around, hiding, or actively trying to hurt other groups by adding to the flames. It was chaotic, with no real divide between the rivalling groups or the civilians. 

“I think we should do this on foot,” Keith suggested. 

“What? They’re throwing makeshift grenades around down there. Let’s take a second to come up with a plan to--” 

Keith didn’t wait for Lance to finish. “There are people stuck in the tents. I think I can save them.” He landed Red as close to the fighting as he could, and ran into the mess, throwing his shield up.

“Keith! Wait!” Lance yelled. 

Unfazed by the heat of the flames, Keith ran forward. Curious, he reached a hand out into them. His armor was flame resistant, and he himself didn’t feel any pain from the fire. He blinked in surprise, and then ran into the tents to look for traders. 

He found himself in a sort of alley behind the backs of several tents. The fire hadn’t spread here yet, but would very soon, trapping him on all sides with fire. A group of people were huddled in the corner, and he sighed in relief that they were still alive. “Lance,” he said into the coms, “we need Blue’s ice down here buddy.” 

“Copy that.” His tone was a bit annoyed.

“Hey there,” Keith said, speaking to the terrified group. “I’m Keith, a Paladin of Voltron. I’m going to try to get you out of here, okay?”  
They nodded, their eyes wide with fear. 

“Lance, c’mon!” 

“I’m here, I’m here!” Lance said. Blue was angling between the fires to shoot beams of ice at the sources. “It’s not exactly an easy time. I don’t want to accidentally freeze anyone!” 

“Can you freeze a path for them by putting out the fires nearby at their sources?” Keith asked. 

Lance laughed into the coms. “You read my mind, Mullet.” 

Keith motioned for the trapped people to follow him. “The Blue Paladin is trying to put out the fires on this side of the market. You should be able to slip out and get to safety.” The people nodded to him. He hoped that meant they understood. Even though the helmets came with universal translators, you couldn’t really tell sometimes. 

The traders slipped out into the fray, ducked low to avoid the occasional thrown object or even laser fire. Keith followed, taking in the full scope of the scene. Ice formed a protective cover on the sides of the little alleyway between tents, shielding the bystanders from the most of it. He watched them hurry away, but he had to continue going deeper into the mess. He and Lance needed to get all of the innocent shoppers out of there. 

“Lance, do you have a visual on any more of the shoppers?” he asked, making his way through the tents. He slipped out into the open area.  
There was less fire, but also less cover. He had to duck and pull up his shield. 

“I think I see someone on the south side, to your left,” Lance said. 

Keith moved quickly, finally finding some cover at a nearby overturned table. He was in the little food court area, the same place he and the other Paladins had eaten spicy rolls a few quintants ago. Now it was in disarray, the tables and chairs thrown about. The booths were flaming or trampled. Keith even noticed a plate of dumplings thrown onto the ground a few feet away. 

The Blue Lion was doing her best to shoot ice at the largest fires to get them under control. It was helping a bit, the smoke in the air was clearing slightly. But the occasional gunshots and thrown objects weren’t stopping.

He looked in the direction that Lance had told him people were. He saw them finally, huddled behind a more stable food stand that had a solid metal counter. He dashed over to them. 

They looked to be a small family, huddled together. There were too older looking Wollobs, and two young ones. All were looking at him with their multiple pairs of eyes filled with fear. 

“Hey there, I’m Keith, the Red Paladin,” he said to them. “I’m here to hel--”

The smallest Wollob flashed a gun, shooting straight for Keith’s head. In a burst of reflexive speed, he shot around the family until he was behind them, holding his knife to the throat of the oldest Wollob. 

They looked at him in fearful surprise. The one that Keith pinned with his knife gave a little laugh. “That’s a nice trick, Paladin,” he sneered in a deep voice. 

“Lance, I need you down here n--” Keith tried to call for his help. The Wollob threw his head back, knocking it hard into Keith’s. Even with the helmet, it still took him by surprise, leaving him blinking.

“Your speed isn’t enough for my strength!” the Wollob shouted victoriously. He tried to pull out of Keith’s slack grip.  
Fire lit up along Keith’s arms and hands. The Wollob yelped in surprise, trying to jump away. Keith used his panic to re-strengthen his grip. 

“You all are surrendering. The Voltron Coalition is here to stop this riot and turn you over to your Wollob government.” Keith felt dizzy and exhausted. Using his speed and flames so soon was very tiring. He was also burning up, but he had to ignore it. He needed to look intimidating, he didn’t want to try to fight all four Wollobs right now.

The family looked at Keith with renewed fear and anger. But thankfully, they didn’t attack. The smallest one still pointed a gun at Keith, but couldn’t shoot with the largest one still in Keith’s grip. 

“That’s enough, little guy.”

Lance stood to his full height, and quickly threw handcuffs on the Wollob with the gun. He had been crouched behind the counter. 

Keith felt his stomach do a flip, and he smiled despite the situation. He probably could have handled this on his own, but he was happy to see Lance right now. 

The two of them got the rest restrained, chaining them together. The traders were protesting angrily the entire time. “We had a good thing going here!” the large Wollob snarled. “Before you Paladins came in here, we had a great deal worked out with the Galra! You’ve ruined our livelihood.” 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Sorry for ruining your business deal with the empire that was trying to enslave or profit off of the entire universe.” 

They continued grumbling and fighting the restraints. Keith and Lance shrugged and ignored them. 

“Allura, tell Wrandahl that the fires have been put out. They should be able to get their soldiers in here to arrest the rest of the traders,” Lance spoke into the coms. “I’ve marked on my map where I could see people that looked like bystanders hiding. However, we just got attacked by one of those groups, so proceed with caution.”

“Great job, guys,” Allura said, relief on her tone. “Are you both safe?”

Lance looked to Keith, who nodded. But Keith wobbled slightly, and Lance looked at him with concern. Keith shook his head, and Lance rolled his eyes. “We’re safe, yes,” he said aloud to Allura, but pointed a finger at Keith in a way that meant, “but you’re going to rest when we get back.”

Keith nodded, smiling. He held up his hands in a way that meant, “okay, deal.” 

Keith liked this, how much he and Lance understood each other now. He couldn’t help but think about how close they had gotten to not being friends anymore when he had been more involved with the Blade of Marmora. 

But Lance had been the one to bring him back into the team after he couldn’t stay with the Blades any longer. Keith thought it was too late to return and be a Paladin again, but Lance convinced him otherwise. With getting the real Shiro back to be the Black Paladin again, Keith went back to Red and Lance returned to Blue. Allura is an even more formidable princess now, able to go from commanding to flying Blue as needed. 

Keith isn’t sure if he ever properly thanked Lance for being there for him then. And now that they have these powers, it’s nice to know he can go to Lance for help again. 

They remained in the destroyed market for a while longer, assisting the Wollob soldiers with rounding up the rest of the fighting traders. Keith was growing unbearably hot and exhausted, and he noticed Lance shivering and sniffling not after too long as well. 

Finally they were able to get back to their Lions and head back to the Castle. Keith gave Lance a relieved look that he mirrored back to him before they climbed into their Lions.

“Hey Keith,” Lance asked through the coms, “you didn’t use your powers in front of anyone, did you?” 

He could see that it was a private channel. He guessed Lance knew him pretty well enough to guess his answer. He winced. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to, though. The little Wollob pulled a gun on me, and the other tried to fight me. I had to use my speed to get around, and my fire happened accidentally.” Keith rubbed the back of his neck, nervous. 

“Well, I hope Allura didn’t want us to keep them a secret forever,” Lance joked. 

But the thought filled Keith with a flash of fear. He gripped the controls tightly. “You think she’ll be mad? Should we not tell her?”

Lance hummed thoughtfully. “We did just kinda ruin her father’s secret legacy, I’m sure she won’t be _that_ mad.” 

“Don’t tell her, Lance? Please?” Keith asked. “Those guys should already be arrested by now. No one will believe them. It shouldn’t hurt anything.” 

Lance gave a little shrug. “Alright, buddy, my lips are sealed,” he said, pretending to zip up his mouth. 

Keith sagged with relief. They docked in their respective hangars, and met back up in the control bridge. On instinct, Keith hurried to seek out Lance. He was growing shakier, it was almost dinner time now, and he hadn’t eaten much at all. 

Lance tugged off his helmet, and smiled when he saw Keith. “Hey, b-buddy,” he greeted, shivering a bit. 

“Lance,” he said warmly, reaching for his hand. Lance eagerly accepted, and Keith felt an instant reprise from the endless heat. Lance relaxed, too, smiling. 

No one else was in the bridge. They had gone up here expecting to give a report to Allura or Shiro, but neither were present. 

They were alone. 

Keith looked over the lines of Lance’s jaw. He had a scar on his chin, and one on his forehead extending down onto his left eyebrow. He was in need of a haircut, it was growing long enough that a hint of his curls were beginning to be noticeable. Although Keith didn’t mind them, they framed his face nicely. 

He jolted when he realized that Lance had said something to him. He had been too busy staring at him to notice. 

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Keith asked, trying to save face.

“I _said_ that was a crazy day. We should go get some food,” Lance repeated with mock exasperation. But then he dropped his voice lower, getting closer to Keith as he grinned. “Although, it seems you’ve already been enjoying some _eye candy_ , so I understand if you’re appetite is gone.” 

“What?” Keith shrieked, tearing his hand out of Lance’s grasp. “I wasn’t--you mean--are you saying that--”

Lance laughed as he clapped Keith on the shoulder. “Relax, buddy, before you blow a circuit. I was just teasing. C’mon!” 

Before Keith could get another word in, Lance took his hand again and dragged him--sputtering and confused--to the dining hall for dinner.  
\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading, let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance find out how to solve one of their problems...guess which one it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the patience! This is a long time coming. 
> 
> Also get ready to see Hunk's powers! I hope you like them.
> 
> Also, mind the rating change please! I bumped it up to mature just because things may get a bit more heated!

_I can’t believe I said that,_ Lance was screaming in his mind. He flirts all the time, sure, but usually with strangers. This was totally different. This was _Keith_. To imply that he was _eye-candy_ for Keith, the guy who he was currently _holding hands with_ , was undeniably flirting. 

But how red and cute Keith was afterward made it worth it. Lance was one part panic and one part hopeful. Maybe there was a chance. 

They had never talked much about romance during their time with Voltron, as a rule, despite how much Lance tried to breach the subject through flirting and teasing. 

What if there was a possibility that Keith could feel something for Lance?

“You say some stupid stuff sometimes,” Keith finally managed to get out, his face pink to his ears. “I mean, that didn’t even make any sense. How was that supposed to work for anyone?”

“Oh, c’mon now, it wasn’t _that_ bad.” Lance readied himself. This was going to be a very risky sentence. “I got you to blush, after all.” He playfully nudged Keith’s side with the arm he was holding the hand of. 

To Lance’s surprise, Keith’s blush actually managed to darken even more. His cheeks, nose, and ears were all flushed. “That’s not true,” he insisted stubbornly. “And if I’m blushing it’s only out of embarrassment for your terrible jokes.”

Lance couldn’t believe his eyes. He laughed until he had to wipe his eyes, stopping in the middle of the hallway because he couldn’t keep walking. Keith shook a little next to him, fighting giggles. Finally, he gave in and was laughing too. 

“I don’t understand why you’re laughing,” Keith finally said, still chuckling despite himself.

“You’re just one of the funniest people I know, Keith,” Lance said, shaking his head. “I’m glad to have to be stuck holding your hand while we figure out these magic Lion powers.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just trying to make me feel like you weren’t just laughing at me. I know your game, McLain.”

They started walking again. They were getting pretty close to the dining hall now. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you do.” He paused for a moment. “Honestly, though, at least you and I have someone to balance each other out, right? The others must be feeling worse,” Lance said. 

“Yeah, probably,” Keith agreed, looking away. 

The dining hall finally came into view as they neared the end of the hall. 

“I wonder what they are doing,” Lance said, hurrying to the doorway. “I’m surprised they weren’t still up in the control room.” 

Keith hummed in agreement. But as they walked into the dining hall, they saw that the room was also empty. There weren’t even dirty dishes on the table. 

“Um, that’s weird, isn’t it dinner time?” Lance asked. 

“It is weird,” Keith agreed. “We should eat, I guess.” 

“Don’t you want to find them first?” 

Keith gave him a look. “I’ve been using these stupid powers all day. I’m starving. If you want to go find the others, that’s fine, but _I’m_ eating first.” He said this in that Keith-voice that leaves no room for arguing. You could hardly tell this Keith was the same Keith that was a blushing, giggling mess just a few moments ago.

Lance looked helplessly at their interlocked hands. He could go, but it was so much nicer holding Keith’s hand. And also being alone with Keith for dinner wasn’t the worst thing he could be doing… 

“Alright,” he decided, following Keith as they made their way to the kitchen to fix their plates. He grimaced at their limited choices, not excited to eat just the goo. “I guess Hunk didn’t cook anything special tonight.” 

Keith made a similarly disgusted face. “I’m too hungry to be picky.”

Without discussing it, they decided to eat in the kitchen together instead of going back into the echoing dining hall. This was quicker, and Lance was afraid to see how cranky Keith would get if they waited even a second longer to eat. 

They quickly found it to be annoying to try to eat while holding a hand. Not impossible, but not something either of them were in the mood for. 

“How about this?” Lance suggested, dropping their hands. Instead, he leaned onto Keith’s side.

Keith froze for a moment. “That works,” he said quietly. 

Lance liked this. Too much. He could feel Keith breathing and moving to eat. It was… definitely more intimate than just holding hands. 

He couldn’t help himself, though. Tentatively, he lowered his head so it rested on Keith’s shoulder. “Is this okay?” he whispered. 

Keith nodded. “Yeah,” he said in a shaken voice. Lance got goosebumps, but this time not from his cold temperature. 

A flurry of excited footsteps sounded from the hallway behind them. Lance jolted upward in surprise, wheeling around to look at the doorway. 

Pidge was gripping the doorframe, looking at them with eyes sparkling with excitement, her spiky hair in disarray. “ _There_ you guys are!” she burst. “Where have you been?”

“Where have _we_ been? We were saving the--” Lance began indignantly. 

“Never mind that,” she interrupted, “you guys need to come to the training room! Hunk finally figured out his powers and it’s _awesome_!”

Before they could ask her to elaborate, she sped away. 

Lance turned back to Keith, who was looking at him nervously. “I think I’m good,” he said quickly. He tossed his dishes in the cleaning tray. “Want to go see what all that was about?” 

“I guess so,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s hand and leading him out to the hall. He thought about how he had been leaning on Keith when Pidge had burst into the room. “You don’t think that Pidge is going to make fun of us for leaning like that, do you?”

“I don’t know,” Keith said, averting his gaze. 

Lance felt like he was making a mess of this. He shouldn’t have tried that--now the whole team will think something is up with them. And there absolutely isn’t. Stupid Keith, who had the cutest laugh in the universe, making Lance feel brave enough to try to cuddle him. 

Cheers and other noises could be heard from the training room. Hunk’s laugh bellowed through the castle, followed by more yells and shouts. Laser fire and metal crashes echoed along the walls. 

“What on earth…” Lance began, looking with astonishment to Keith, who shrugged helplessly. 

They hurried to the entrance and peaked inside. Lance couldn’t keep his jaw from dropping. 

Hunk was in only the black bodysuit and boots of the Paladin armor, moving with an agility that Lance had never seen before. He was laughing, even though he was surrounded by three training robots. Hunk punched one swiftly in the stomach, and it flew across the room. The other two tried to hit it with their staves, and to Lance’s surprise, Hunk _let them_. 

Lance winced and covered his eyes, but when he only heard more cheering, he looked through his fingers to see Hunk had taken no noticeable damage from the robots. 

With a quick hip-check, Hunk shot another robot across the room to join the first one. With a fluidity and ease Lance had never seen, Hunk lifted up the remaining bot and _threw_ it, as though it only weighed a few pounds. 

The rest of the team was hollering and cheering from the side of the room. Lance and Keith looked to them for explanation, but the most they got was an excited scream from Pidge: “Hunk the _Tank_!”

“End training sequence,” Hunk said smugly, and the robots dropped through the openings in the floor beneath them. He finally looked over at Keith and Lance, who were busy trying to pick up their jaws from the floor. “Hey guys, guess what my powers are?”

Lance reacted first. In a burst of excitement, he ran and leaped at Hunk, who scooped him up easily. “Dude! You’re amazing! _That_ was amazing! What the cheese was that?”

“I have strength and armor,” he answered. To demonstrate, he held up Lance over his head. 

Lance actually felt himself blushing and giggling. Hunk was his best friend, but getting picked up by someone with super strength might have been a bit of a weakness for him. “How-how does it work?” he asked. 

Hunk slowly set him back down, and the rest of the team came over to him now. Keith also slowly approached, and Lance gave him a glance. But for some reason, Keith seemed walled-off and unreadable. 

“I have no idea,” Hunk said. “But it isn’t actually my body that is impervious to the impacts. I have a kind of, I guess, layer over me. See?”

To demonstrate, he held up an arm and punched it with his other hand. Lance gasped reflexively, but watched as the impact didn’t quite land the way he was expecting. A slight yellow glow lit up at the spot where Hunk had punched, and quickly dispersed along his arm in a wave. 

“It seems to take the energy from the hits and distribute it so it isn’t in a singular location, to the point where the force is very weak against me,” Hunk explained. “And it has a limit. Too many hits at one time will weaken the effectiveness, so those will still hurt. And after using it too long, it doesn’t work as well either.”

“We’ve been here for a few vargas now,” Pidge said excitedly. “We were all training at first, but Hunk kinda got a spotlight for a while. I mean, did you _see_ him?”

“If I’m not as worried about getting hurt, I feel way more excited,” Hunk admitted shyly, a sweet blush tinging his cheeks. 

“Hunk has been doing amazing,” Allura gushed from where she stood, towering over the others. She was taller than she normally was. She was more animated that Lance had seen her be in a while. She was flushed and her eyes sparkled. “He made an excellent partner in hand-to-hand sparring.”

“Allura even grew with her Altean powers!” Pidge burst, pointing at Allura's obvious height as if Keith and Lance couldn't notice on their own. 

Despite their contagious enthusiasm, Lance yawned. He was exhausted. “Sorry,” he tried to say around his yawn. 

“Are you guys alright? How did helping the Wollobs go?” Shiro asked. 

“We’re fine. It was fine,” Keith said bluntly from Lance’s right. 

“It just took a long time,” Lance said. “We didn’t exactly know who was instigated the conflict, so saving everyone had a bit of a risk…”

“What kind of risk?” Allura asked. 

“Keith was attacked,” Lance explained quickly. 

“Lance--” Keith protested. 

“But he’s alright,” Lance insisted, holding up his arms to placate Keith, who huffed and rolled his eyes in response. “You guys know we would’ve called for backup if we’d needed it.” 

“You two?” Pidge asked incredulously. She ran a hand threw her short, choppy hair. “Not likely.” 

“Pidge,” Keith said, pouting. Lance’s heart stuttered. Keith pouting was one of the cutest faces he ever gets to see. 

Without thinking, Lance reached out to grab Keith’s hand. To his surprise, Keith met him halfway as he saw Lance’s hand move. He looked at Pidge. “C’mon, Pidge, you know how we are now. Maybe two years ago we would’ve been too stubborn,” Lance said to her, giving her a slightly hurt look. “But we’re much better now.”

Pidge looked pointedly at their hands. “Yeah, you’re right. You guys have changed.” She flicked her eyes back up into Lance’s and smiled one of her cat-curled grins. Her eyes were almost as sharp as her edged haircut. 

Keith seemed satisfied as his shoulders relaxed. Lance could tell Pidge was being, well, Pidge, but he let it slide. He decided to change the subject. “Did you guys eat yet? Keith and I were too hungry to try to find you guys before we had eaten,” he said briskly. 

“No, we didn’t,” Hunk said with mild surprise. “I can’t believe I forgot about a meal.” 

“You alright there, big guy? That’s not like you,” Lance joked, but was just a bit concerned as well. 

“Yeah,” Hunk said in a wavering voice. His face begins to pale slightly. “I’m--I don’t feel super good,” he confessed. 

Concerned arms from all the team reached out to support him, slowly easing him onto the ground. 

“Are you alright Hunk? What’s the matter?” Allura asked. 

“It’s nothing, sorry, it just hit me all at once,” Hunk said, forehead gleaming with a layer of sweat. “I feel like the ground is shaking underneath me, and my muscles are made of jelly.”

“That’s a terrifying analogy,” Pidge commented. 

“Feels terrible,” Hunk chuckled. 

“Let’s get you something to eat,” Allura suggested. Hunk nodded weakly. Allura was still in her strong, tall form, so she crouched and pulled Hunk up so he was supported on her shoulder. They all began to follow toward the kitchens. 

Shiro tried to help, but with a surprised yelp he teleported from the room. 

Pidge groaned. “He needs to figure that teleportation thing out.” 

“That’s funny, coming from you,” Allura said pointedly. “You accidently became invisible while we were sparring earlier, and you didn’t even know to use it to your advantage. Your attacks were still in the predictable pattern you fall back to.”

“I don’t exactly have a little signal or anything when I’m invisible!” she protested in response, her lower lip jutting out slightly. “And only _you_ think I’m predictable.”

“Eh,” Hunk chimed in weakly. “You can be a little predictable, dude.”

“ _Et tu, Brute?_ ” Pidge cried, full of betrayal. Lance couldn’t help but laugh, while Allura tried asking for clarification for the phrase. 

Keith chuckled also, but then stopped. He put a hand up to his forehead, his face paling, and a sheen of sweat layering his brow. Lance turned to to him, concerned. The team continued walking, not noticing the two hanging back.

“Lance,” Keith said, his voice hushed. “We have to figure these powers out. This is getting old. We’re going to get hurt if stuff like this happens while we’re fighting. Did you see Hunk? I'm not doing too much better right now, either.” 

Lance reached out to give Keith his arm. Instead of just gripping his hand like Lance had expected, Keith clung to his arm for support. 

“Would you like me to take you to your room?” Lance offered. 

Keith looked up at him, and for a moment his pale complexion was tinged with a dusting of pink across his nose and cheeks. Lance felt a flash of nerves, worried that the offer was too weird. 

“Okay,” Keith said instead. Lance gave him a little crooked grin. 

While the team made their way to get their own dinners, Lance and Keith quietly slipped up the stairs to the bedrooms. 

\---

“Why have we been whispering?” Lance asked as they approached the bedroom doors. 

They had been talking in hushed tones through the halls without even realizing it. Keith blinked in surprise. 

“I’m not sure,” he answered, smiling and raising his voice so it wasn’t so quiet, but still not a loud volume. Maybe so that the others wouldn’t notice that they hadn’t followed them to dinner? Did that mean he and Lance were… sneaking away, alone together? His cheeks warmed again.

They were exhausted and grimy from a long, tiring day. Keith was shaking on his wobbly legs, and the heat roiling through him almost made him nauseous. Yet somehow he wouldn’t trade it all for this time he spent with Lance. 

What was wrong with him? 

He had to figure out these stupid powers and this stupid crush. 

“I need to get some rest,” he said, putting some determination into his tone. 

Lance nodded. “Yeah…” he said slowly. 

Neither of them moved. 

Keith has been called impulsive before. He knew he should take a second, pause, think before he speaks--

“Would you like to come in?” he said instead. 

Lance looked at him for a second. “We--we both need showers--” 

“I have a shower,” Keith said. His cheeks heated up as he spoke. “We can take turns, I mean, obviously--” he stammered. 

“Are you sure?” Lance asked, his damned adorable little smirk cropping back up on his face again. 

Keith nodded. “It would be a lot more comfortable for me, if we could stay close,” he admitted in a soft voice. 

“Alright then!” Lance declared loudly. Keith reflexively looked around, worried about someone hearing. “Just to make sure _you_ feel better, your good friend Lancey-Lance will help!”

Keith rolled his eyes. He better not to regret this. He put his palm on his door, and it slid open. “After you, _Lancey-Lance_ ,” he said. 

Lance stumbled slightly at the nickname. He mimicked straightening his clothes and strode inside, head high to hide his obvious embarrassment. Keith laughed. 

“Did you want to shower first?” Lance asked once they were inside the room. 

“Sure,” Keith said. He quickly hurried to the bathroom and closed the door. Almost immediately he shoved his clenched fist to his mouth. He couldn’t believe it. Lance was in his room. Lance was _right there_. Lance was going to shower and then…

And then what?

Keith turned on his water and got undressed. He’d been showering in cold water lately, to try to cool himself off before the day. This time, he knew Lance would be waiting to cool him off some. So instead, he set the water as scalding hot as he could manage. He was warm, but the heat didn’t burn him. It actually helped him relax slightly. 

As soon as he was clean and the heat was too much, he shut off the water and and toweled dry. He went through the rest of his routine, brushing his teeth, combing out his long hair, and tying it back. Though tonight instead of just a ponytail, he twisted his hair into a little braid. It wasn’t too much, but he couldn’t help trying to make it look like he had put some effort into it. 

He took a deep, steadying breath. He secured his towel around his waist and gathered up his dirty Paladin armor and sent it down the chute to the Castle’s automatic laundry. He stepped out to see Lance sitting lightly on the foot of Keith bed. 

He leaped up when he saw Keith. Neither of them spoke for a moment. Keith suddenly felt very conscious of the fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Lance’s eyes stayed locked onto his for a moment, then quickly flicked down to look at his body and back up. Keith saw Lance swallow. 

“You can braid your hair?” Lance asked quietly. 

Keith slowly walked over to Lance, feeling equal parts brave and terrified. He hummed an affirmative. He was close enough to reach out and touch Lance, if he wanted. Or close enough for Lance to do the same. “Do you want to look at it?” he offered. 

Lance nodded shallowly, swallowing again. 

Keith gently turned his back to Lance so he could see his hair in its little braid. A cold, gloved touch on his neck sent a shock through his body, and he accidentally flicked out little sparks of flame from his fingertips. 

Lance’s hands were gentle as he carefully lifted Keith’s hair and let it fall back against his skin. “It looks cool,” Lance managed to choke out. 

Keith turned back around. “Thanks,” he said. 

Lance sucked in a breath of air. Keith was now even closer to him than before. They could almost press against each other, if they wanted. 

Keith wanted. 

He wanted to so badly. He couldn’t help it. Lance had been near him all day, fighting by his side, protecting him. To be so close and feel so drawn to him… Keith couldn’t take it anymore. 

So he did it. 

Keith stood up on his toes and craned his neck. He closed his eyes, and gently leaned in to kiss Lance. 

He felt Lance freeze, and then he moved, but he didn’t pull back from the kiss. Suddenly bare hands were on his back, and Keith gasped lightly. Lance had been pulling off his gloves, and now his hands were on him. 

Keith deepened the kiss, and Lance responded eagerly. It wasn’t a graceful kiss, their noses bumped and their teeth got in the way a bit, but Keith was in heaven. 

Finally he pulled away slowly. He was panting like he had just sprinted. Lance was looking at him with red cheeks and a breath that mimicked his own. 

“Keith…” he said. He said it like Keith was a treasure, he said it with an affection that made Keith weak at his knees. 

“Was that okay?” Keith asked quickly. 

Lance nodded. “Yes, that was… yes. I…” he tried to say. 

Keith interrupted him impatiently. He had to kiss him again. Lance was sweaty and his light stubble was a little scratchy, but Keith needed to kiss him again. Where the first kiss had been shy and curious, this kiss wanted more. 

He experimentally added his tongue into the mix, which Lance responded to with a little moan. The sound turned all of Keith’s senses on overdrive, and he continued to push his tongue in. He could feel Lance’s grip on his bare skin tighten. He should’ve been more worried about the fact that he was only in a towel. But Lance’s Paladin armor felt so strong against his skin, and he couldn’t help but love the feeling. 

The fire that had been filling his insides all day was finally being cooled by every touch Lance gave him. Relief flowed through him, chilling him. He could feel Lance melting into his grip, and he couldn’t help but feel excited that he was warming Lance up, making him hotter--

“Keith,” Lance panted between their kisses. “Do you mind-- _kiss_ \--if I-- _kiss_ \--shower really quick?” 

Keith broke the kiss, his breathing a ragged mess. He blinked, and Lance gave him a small smile, though he wasn’t looking much better. 

“You’re steaming,” he said, laughing. 

Keith looked down at himself, and noticed that the few remaining drops of water that had remained were evaporating off his hot skin. By Lance looking upward at the top of his head, he guessed his wet hair was steaming too. 

“Wait,” Keith said, looking down at his sides where Lance still had his hands on his hips. Ice glittered underneath his long fingers. 

Lance looked down as well, and then threw his head back in easy laughter. He took his hands off, and two iced handprints were on Keith’s sides. It was actually a bit too cold, for once. 

Laughing, Keith focused on holding his own hands to the ice and warming them with tongues of flame until it dripped down onto his towel. 

When Keith looked back up to Lance, he was staring at the water dripping down his hips with a spark of desire heavy in his eyes. “Lance?” 

“I--I need to shower,” he managed. 

“Right,” Keith agreed. He was lightheaded. From the exhaustion of the day or the kissing, he wasn’t sure. Maybe both. 

Lance gave him a few lingering touches as he made his way into the bathroom. The door shut, and Keith felt a shock of realization about what just happened. 

He had kissed Lance. 

Lance had kissed him back. 

Lance had _moaned_. 

Keith had to sit down. 

He plopped down on the edge of his bed, his heart racing. He needed to get dressed. The water began running in the bathroom. 

He threw his towel off and hurried to tug on some pajama shorts and a loose Altean t-shirt. He sat on the bed for a moment, and waited, but the water continued running. He stood and paced, growing more and more nervous every moment. He found himself doing a few sprints of his speed while he paced, which made him dizzy and lightheaded, and he had to sit again. 

Finally, the water shut off. Lance’s voice floated from the bathroom, and Keith strained his ears to listen. His heart took off as he realized Lance was humming. Keith covered his face and fell backwards in bed, his body unable to handle how adorable this boy was. This boy who he had been _kissing_ moments ago. 

The door opened, steam pouring out into the bedroom. Lance had a towel around his waist, and looked at Keith sheepishly. “Could I borrow some pajamas? I didn’t really think about it...before.”

Keith sat up, giving him a little grin. _Lance was going to stay the night in his room…_

“Sure, they may be just baggy enough to cover you.” He dug through the cabinets in the walls of his room, pulling out a couple clothes that might work. “Try these,” he said, handing them to Lance. 

Their hands brushed and instead of making it a light touch, Lance gripped his hand solidly and bent down to kiss him, quickly, on the cheek. “Thank you, Keith,” he breathed into his ear. He disappeared back into the bathroom to get dressed, leaving Keith to turn red and combust once more. 

_What am I going to do?_ Keith begged the universe desperately. 

Lance returned, wearing red Paladin pajama pants that fit him perfectly. His shirt was too short though, cutting off at his hips. 

“The pants were too long for me,” Keith said wryly, “but the shirt seems too short for you.”

“I’ll manage,” Lance said, his mouth opening into a wide yawn. 

“Could you turn off the lights?” Keith asked, his heart in his throat. 

“Mm-hmm,” Lance said, his tone high, seeming just as nervous. 

And suddenly, it was dark in the room. 

Keith scooted against the wall, and patted the bed next to him. Lance slowly slid down into bed, getting under the covers. Keith hadn’t used his covers the past few nights, he’d been far too warm for them. So they laid like that for a moment, their touch separated by the blanket. 

“Is this too much?” Keith asked. “We didn’t really decide--we didn’t say anything out loud--”

“Can I sleep with you tonight, Keith?” Lance asked, his voice low and husky. 

“Yes, please,” Keith answered, the question tugging a smile at his lips. 

“Can I kiss you some more tonight, Keith?” Lance asked, turning himself and moving closer so he faced him. 

“Yes, please,” Keith breathed. 

They wasted no time connecting their lips once more. Now Lance was clean and Keith couldn’t help pressing close against him. The blanket was quickly tossed out of the way, and when Lance shivered Keith was there to warm him. 

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long,” Lance panted. 

“Me too,” Keith agreed, nipping hungrily at Lance’s bottom lip. 

He moaned in response. “We should’ve been doing this sooner, what’s wrong with us?” 

Keith laughed and slipped his tongue into Lance’s mouth, and there wasn’t any more room for conversation. 

After a while, they laid side by side, Keith resting his head on Lance’s cool chest. The feel of the rise and fall of his breath was so soothing, and Keith was fighting giving in to sleep. 

“Hey Lance?” he mumbled against him.

“Yeah, baby?” Lance cooed. 

Keith snuggled closer at the pet name. “Thank you for being there for me when I rejoined the team. I don’t know if I ever thanked you properly for that. When I quit the Blade… I didn’t think I had a home to return to. But you showed me that I did, and made everything feel normal again…” 

Lance pecked a little kiss to the top of Keith’s head. “You don’t have to thank me. I missed you so much while you were gone… I was so glad to have you back. I’d always kind of hoped that we could end up together.”

“You’re such a cheesy romantic,” Keith teased, the last of his awareness fading as sleep tugged at his thoughts. 

Lance lightly scratched Keith’s back, and he knew he couldn’t fight it anymore. 

“Goodnight, baby.”

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this turned out to be The Scene, and I had to make it perfect! I had planned on making this the last chapter, but it ended up being too long. So get ready for the last chapter to be posted soon!
> 
> They finally solved their pining problem, and now they will solve the problem of their powers! 
> 
> Thanks again for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!
> 
> You can find my tumblr  
> [here!](https://vol-tron-he11.tumblr.com/)


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